A DOCTOR who cared more for others than herself took her own life while suffering from depression, an inquest heard.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dr Dawn Harris was found hanged at her home in Aviemore Close, Holcombe Brook, Bury, by her husband, Michael Churchill, on August 2 last year.

The Bury inquest held yesterday, heard how Dr Harris, based at Lever Chambers in Bolton, had previously taken an overdose in 2001 and tried to end her life.

Mr Churchill told the court that prior to this, the test results of one of her patients from the surgery had been missed by colleagues while she was away on holiday.

He said: "She felt personally responsible. She endeavoured to help that patient and their family and spent considerable time with them, and nursed them until they died."

It was made clear at the inquest by Dr Christopher Wakefield from Lever Chambers that the missed results did not have an effect on the overall health of the patient, and the death was not directly linked to the missed results.

Dr Wakefield described Dr Harris as "dedicated to her work and liked by all members of staff and patients".

Following the attempted overdose, Dr Harris visited her own GP in Greenmount to discuss what had happened, and was prescribed anti-depressants.

However, she tried to wean herself off the medication on numerous occasions and the inquest heard how she complained of "feeling weird" if she missed one day of the course.

The inquest heard how Dr Harris insisted to her husband that she was not going to do anything stupid again after taking the overdose.

On the day of her death, Dr Harris visited her family in Manchester and seemed very happy.

Her mother, Mrs Elizabeth Harris, said: "When we saw her she seem more relaxed that we had seen her for a while. She never displayed a depressive personality. She was full of life: a joy."

On returning home on that day, she went to watch her husband play cricket and after the match, they returned to their home. Her husband then went for a drink with team mates, returning at around 11.30pm.

It was then that Dr Harris was found hanging from the banister of the stairway.

Her sister, Miss Diana Harris, told the inquest: "Dawn was very busy caring for everybody else. I do not think she saved enough of herself for herself.

"I do not believe that she planned to kill herself but she would have known that if she hung herself it would be over very quickly."

Coroner Simon Nelson recorded that Dr Harris' death was a traumatic death following a deliberate act of self-harm while suffering from a depressive illness.

He added that he felt there should be tighter regulations surrounding anti-depressant medication as, even though Dr Harris had shown no obvious signs of side effects, she had commented that not having the medication had an adverse affect on her.